Stock Groups

Biden picks Powell to lead U.S. Fed for a second term

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SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower in Tuesday trade as investors watched for market reaction to U.S. President Joe BidenPicking Jerome PowellA second term is available Federal Reserve chair.

Hong Kong Hang Seng indexStocks in mainland China fell 0.9%, while they were mixed with those from the USA. Shanghai compositean increase in the Shenzhen componentThe difference was 0.25%.

South Korea KospiThe stock market fell 0.46% with Celltrion shares plunging over 6%.

It S&P/ASX 200Australia’s shares in major mining companies rose by 0.6% BHPMore than 4% rose.

The MSCI’s Asia-Pacific broadest index outside Japan was 0.422% less.

Japan’s markets are closed Tuesdays to observe a holiday.

Tech stocks fall

On Tuesday, technology stocks in Asia dropped following losses suffered by peers stateside.

Hong Kong listed shares in Chinese tech company TencentThe drop in sales was 2.2% AlibabaThe drop was 2.92 percent Meituan plunged 3.36%. Hang Seng Tech fell by 1.7%

South Korea’s LG Electronics lost 4.1%, and Kakao fell 2.33%.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.26% overnight to 15,854.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 17.27 points higher to 35,619.25 while the S&P 500 slipped 0.32% to 4,682.94.

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These moves were made as Wall Street investors reacted to Biden’s selection of Powell as Fed Chair for a second term. Biden was under pressure from Wall Street to nominate a progressive Democrat rather than keeping Republican Powell in his role.

Powell led the U.S. central banking and economy during the recession. He unleashed unprecedented monetary stimuli to keep the financial markets afloat. The Senate will confirm his nomination.

Oil and Currencies

It U.S. dollar indexThe greenback was compared to a basket that its peers in the indices of economic performance ( ) stood at 96.45. This is higher than the 95.4 levels last week.

It Japanese yenFollowing a sharp weakness of the greenback against the dollar below 114.5, prices traded at 114.77 USD. Following a recent sharp weakness from under 114.5 to the greenback, they traded at 114.77 dollars. Australian dollarIt was $0.7235. This is still below the $0.735 levels last week.

The morning Asia trading hour saw oil prices lower, with an international benchmark Brent crude futuresThe barrel price dropped by 0.31% to $79.45 U.S. crude futuresThe price of a barrel fell to $76.38 from $78.08, or 0.48%.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox and Thomas Franck contributed to this report.

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